Harlon, our Bahamian guide coached from his high position on the poling
tower at the back of the small skiff, "Twelve o'clock, forty-five feet, two
feet from the beach...in that little cove." Suddenly there
was a stationary bonefish where seconds before there appeared to be only
barren sand. The wind was at perfectly the wrong angle for the back-cast, but
somehow the heavily weighted fly landed two feet to the side of the fish's
head. "Too damn close", was the thought that blasted through my head when
the fly landed. The fish did a 360, but instead of running off, it pounced on
the fly and bolted over a hundred yards into the backing when it felt the hook. Ten minutes later the six-pounder was released, a fitting end
to a memorable trip to Andros South Lodge.

Andros, the largest island in the Bahamas chain has been a
famous bonefish spot for nearly 100 years. The bonefish even appears on one of
the Bahamian coins and sport fishing for bonefish is a major staple in the
Bahamian tourist based economy. Netting or commercial fishing for bonefish was
outlawed about twenty years ago after the specie was nearly wiped out. Since then the
bonefish population has rebounded and specimens over ten pounds can be
encountered nearly every day on the flats around Andros.

Patty and I recently spent six days fishing out of Andrew
Bennett's new Andros South bonefish camp. Each day we fished with a
different guide, and I asked the same two questions of each, "What's the
largest bonefish you have seen? What's the largest bonefish your clients
have landed?" Nearly every guide said their clients had landed fish in
the teens, and some had seen fish over twenty pounds. During our stay we had at
least one shot at a ten pound fish each day. A couple might have been
larger.

However, these big fish proved to be very wary and a ten
pound bone fish, like a twenty pound steelhead tend to be elusive. The largest fish we landed were six pounders. Andros South has
access to nearly unlimited flats of nearly every description. During our
stay, we fished different water each day and covered hundreds of acres.
Fishing was done both from the boat and by wading. By far the most popular
rod size in camp were 9'-eight weights. Bonefish are found in shallow water.
Floating lines are all that is

needed. Your reel better run smooth and
carry 250-yards of backing. Concerning fly patterns, over eighty percent of
the fish are caught on Gotchas. Sizes vary from #2 to #8 in both lightly
weighted, medium-weighted and heavy-weighted. (An over-haul of our fly
selection will reflect this in the near future). Nine foot fifteen pound test leaders are most
popular. The fish around South Andros don't seem to be leader shy. There are
enough very-large fish available that you want to be prepared to meet them.

Andros South is the best bonefish camp we have fished out
of. Their guides are knowledgeable and extremely helpful. Of course
Patty and I shared a room, but all the rest of the guests had private
rooms. The food was excellent and plentiful. The last dinner featured stone
crab claws. Beer & booze was unlimited. The staff was friendly and extremely
professional.

Bonefish Money
In an age when everything natural seems to be getting in shorter supply and
when the world's most enlightened countries still allow commercial netting
of sport fish that are listed as endangered, tiny Commonwealth Of The
Bahamas runs against the grain. In the 1980's bonefish nearly went extinct
from commercial harvest. The Government outlawed netting and bonefish
responded immediately. Now the Bahamas has the largest, most divers bonefish
sport fishery in the world worth millions $
annually.

What would some guy from Oregon know about bonefish or bone fish rods?
Bonefish live far south of the Pacific northwest. But, with today's
economical, high speed travel you can be on a bonefish flat within 24-hours
from anywhere in the United States. Oregon to Andros Island is about 15-hours counting down-time between flights. An hour
after you hit camp,
you can be testing rods on real bonefish. Eight weight rods are
most popular at most bonefish destinations. An eight weight rod is perfect
where fish weigh

2-10 pounds. An eight weight rod will handle any fish that
can be landed on a 15-pound tippet. In bonefishing, casting accuracy is
everything. If you can place the fly precisely in the right place, nearly
every fish will eat the fly. That means if you can deliver the fly within a
two foot circle, four feet in front of a cruising bonefish, you will get
hooked up nearly every time. Many fish will still take the fly even if the
cast is not that accurate, but as the margin of error widens, the success
rate goes down. In calm, sunny conditions the average cast for bonefish
might be 30-75 feet. Under these conditions, fast action rods are an asset,
as they help generate line speed to deliver long accurate casts at these
ranges. At these casting ranges an angler is loading the rod with the full length of the
head-end of the fly line extended beyond the rod tip. When the visibility
goes down and shorter casts are required, the fastest action rods can become a
liability, especially if you are throwing a heavy weighted fly. During our
stay at Andros South the weather was often cloudy and windy. This weather
pattern limited our ability to see fish at long distances. Most casts were
under sixty feet. Some cast were only twenty feet. The average cast
was thirty to forty-five feet. Because of the wave action, most fish were
found in water that was more than eighteen inches deep, which demanded that
heavier weighted flies were used. This mixture of short casts and
heavy flies changed casting dynamics from simple to demanding. Under these
conditions, we found that moderate actions rods were easier to use. Of
course the same casting dynamics can be achieved by over-lining your stiff
rod with a heavier fly line. Over-lining a rod can help when using heavy
flies during windy conditions. We caught bonefish on all of the rods listed below.
Rod testing
probably interfered with our catch rate, especially under the difficult
weather conditions we encountered, because it took time to get familiar with
each rod and some casts were performed badly. To keep the playing field level, all rods
were tested with the same Equator Taper II fly lines. None of the rods were
over-lined during our stay at Andros South. There simply wasn't enough time.
Our tests reflect only our assessment of practical usability under the
conditions we encountered. In other words features such as price,
craftsmanship, availability, etc. weren't taken into consideration. Patty
and I have quite different casting styles, but pretty much agreed on which
rods we enjoyed most. The rods are listed in our order of preference.

Sage 890-4 Z-AXIS

Length: 9' Line: 8 Pieces: 4

Under the conditions we encountered
this "true eight-weight" was clearly the best tool for the job. It is
lightweight and responsive with a progressive action that allows short casts
and still has enough butt to throw easily to seventy feet. It balances
perfectly with the Equator Taper II line and 3400D reel.
Rod weight: 4 Ounces

This is superb
bonefish rod. It is a little softer in the mid-section than the 890-4
Z-AXIS, so it lacks the punch at long range. But, it is as effective in
ranges of sixty feet or less and proved to be the best close-in tool. It
has the most forgiving action and is Patty's favorite bonefish and baby
tarpon rod.
Rod weight: 3 1/2 Ounces.

We agreed that we liked this the
best of the magnum action rods. It is a faster taper than the two
rods listed above and there is no doubt this is the rod we would go to if
really long casts were the norm. It is a rod that will appeal to anglers
who fish bonefish a lot of days per year. For shorter casts during windy
conditions, over-lining this rod with a nine-weight line might be worth a
try.

This rod has been on a lot of saltwater trips with us. It
has fished all manner of floating and sinking lines, and has landed such
divers species as bonefish, snook, jacks, barracuda & tarpon as well as
steelhead and salmon. It is a superb rod in the wind if you load it
with a WF9 and it will cast sinking heads to 300-grains. If you only had
one bonefish rod, this could very well be it. It would also make a great
companion to the 890-4 Z-AXIS (slightly heavier action).
Rod weight: 4 1/8 Ounces.

Winston's newest series is very
fast, has tons of punch and would undoubtedly be a long range cannon on
calm days. We caught quite a few fish with it, including the bonefish I am
holding at the top of this page. The BIIMX Series is noticeably heavier, stiffer and faster action than the popular BIIX Series. We would have
liked to have tried to tried a 9-weight line on this rod to combat the
wind, but there was no time. No doubt that the BIIX and BIIMX would make a
potent team on the flats.

This is Lefty Kreh's newest design, and like the rest of
his rods, it will appeal to the most skilled casters. The blank employs
Kevalr in the graphite mixture to increase hoop strength and tip recovery,
which increases line speed. And it does deliver amazing distance under
ideal conditions. We found this rod to be somewhat demanding when
the wind was blowing and would have like to over-lined it to see what
would happen, but once again there was no time. There will be further
investigations.
Rod Weight:
5.5 oz.

Because Sage
couldn't find a saltwater line they were satisfied with, they built one
from scratch. Featuring a braided monofilament core and an exclusive
saltwater Taper II formula, Equator Taper II lines provide the stiffness,
power and accuracy you need, even in hot, tropical conditions. Thanks to
Sage's special saltwater coating, these lines shoot easily, float high and
resist the corrosive effects of salt and sun. Best of all, we found that
these new lines resist the collection of salt residue that slow lines
down. We fished a couple of days between line cleanings with no
change in line speed.